AMC to buy BR Rave theaters

AMC to buy BR Rave theaters

Advocate file photo -- Crowds wait outside the Rave theater at the Mall of Louisiana for the 2010 debut of a Harry Potter movie. AMC is acquiring the theater and a Rave off O'Neal Lane at Interstate 12.

AMC Entertainment said it has entered into an agreement to buy four Rave Cinemas movie theaters, including the two in Baton Rouge.

AMC, based in Kansas City, Mo., would not disclose the purchase price for the theaters.

Along with the locations at the Mall of Louisiana and the Interstate 12-O’Neal Lane intersection, AMC will also get Rave theaters in Montgomery, Ala., and Destin, Fla.

Sun Dee Mills Larson, a spokeswoman for AMC, said in an email that the goal is to complete the acquisition by the end of the year. AMC plans to retain the staff at all of the Rave theaters it is purchasing.

Larson said she had no information as to if the theaters will retain the Rave name or if they will be rebranded as AMC screens.

AMC noted that of the 61 screens it is adding as part of the theater purchases, 46 percent are capable of showing 3D movies. Theaters charge moviegoers a few extra dollars for tickets to 3D and the large format IMAX screens.

AMC operates movie theaters in Hammond, Harahan, Harvey, Houma and Metairie, with a total of 68 screens in Louisiana. The Metairie and Harahan locations have IMAX screens, like the Rave at the Mall of Louisiana.

AMC operates 22 of the 50 highest-grossing movie theaters in the U.S. The company has about 340 theaters in 32 states and the District of Columbia.

Last week Rave announced a deal to sell 32 theaters to Cinemark USA for an estimated $240 million.

Cinemark has a theater in the Perkins Rowe development at Bluebonnet Boulevard and Perkins Road.

Rave Motion Pictures 16 at O’Neal Lane opened in March 2003, while the Rave Mall of Louisiana 15 opened in July 2006.